Light cycle oil (hereinafter, referred to as “LCO”), which is cracked light oil produced by a fluid catalytic cracking unit, contains a large amount of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and has been used as light oil or heavy oil. However, in recent years, investigations have been conducted to obtain, from LCO, useful components (for example, monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, liquefied petroleum gas, and the like) offering significant added value.
For example, Patent Document 1 to Patent Document 3 disclose methods of producing monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (such as benzene, toluene, xylene and ethylbenzene) from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons contained in large amounts within LCO and the like by using zeolite catalysts.
In addition, as a method of producing monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons through reaction using zeolite catalysts, Patent Document 4 discloses a method of producing monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from aromatic compounds having a carbon number of 9 or more by using beta-type zeolite, which has a 12-membered ring structure and a large pore size, as a catalyst.
Patent Document 5 discloses a method of producing monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from paraffin-based hydrocarbons having a carbon number of 2 to 12 by using beta-type zeolite as a catalyst.